Resurrected
by Comfy Chair
Summary: Buffy has been resurrected by her friends to prevent Wolfram & Hart from doing so first. She longs for release. Before that, however, she will seek revenge against W&H, whatever it takes and whosoever she has to go through - be it her friends, the Council, even Angel. Last part now posted. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thank you very much for reading my story. I hope you enjoy it. It follows on from Season 5 and will comprise of three parts. Please review. Regards CC.**

**This story has been brought to you with the following soundtrack in mind:**

_**Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Smashing Pumpkins)**_

_**Silence (Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan)**_

_**One (U2 - Johnny Cash version)**_

_**I've Loved These Days (Billy Joel)**_

_**Teardrop (Massive Attack featuring Laura Fraser)**_

**Preview of part one 'Betrayed Desires'**

_**Buffy fought against the combined grip of Giles and Xander; thrashing like a wild animal. They flung her against the other wall. "Buffy!" Giles shouted, whilst he and the younger man pinned her arms. "What are you doing?" She continued to thrash, exerting her strength to try and push herself away from the wall. Giles released his grip, but used his free hand to slap her across the face. "Stop it!" He commanded.**_

_**The response was immediate; Buffy stopped struggling and tried to flatten herself even more against the wall. Her eyes were wide open, the mix of fear and shock almost palpable. "But….but he killed me," she whispered cryptically, a plea for understanding in her voice. **_

**Preview of part two 'Rage'**

"_**I'm sorry, I didn't know," Spike said quietly. "But, why do you have to be someone else? Why can't you be Buffy?"**_

"_**What, Little Miss Futile Gesture? She's dead. You buried that little girl. I didn't claw my way out of the ground to resume where she left off." She looked around at her silent friends. "Don't look at me like that," she pleaded. "I won't be judged!" She backed away as though she were trying to make space for a battle.**_

**Preview of part three 'Silence'**

"_**Shut up, both of you!" Willow admonished as she tried to keep her concentration on her task. "Faith, no!" She shouted suddenly as the brunette stepped forward, her feet making contact with the black.**_

_**Faith screamed in terror, her hands to her ears. Spike dragged her back behind Willow. She collapsed to the ground and curled herself into a ball. Willow finally turned round, satisfied that her spell was complete. She knelt down to Faith's level. The slayer had recovered enough to sit up, but was obviously still stunned.**_

"_**What was the spell?" She asked the Wicca.**_

"_**Fear."**_

"_**Fear of what?"**_

"_**I don't know; I can't read minds…yet," Willow smiled. "You tell me."**_

_**Faith stood up. "I'd rather not say, but right now I suddenly have pity for the people who ran from the building and….a strong resolve never to upset you again."**_

**Resurrected**

**Part one**

**Betrayed Desires**

The world is a vampire

sent to drain secret destroyers.

Hold you up to the flames,

and what do I get for my pain?

Betrayed desires

And a piece of the game.

(Smashing Pumpkins)

**Prologue**

Mud clung to her. It melded to her clothes. It clung to her exposed skin, like a baby newly emerged from her mother's womb. Her long blonde hair was caked with it, giving her a tribal appearance - a ritual savage. Blood dripped from her fingertips where nails once were. Her eyes blinked, dislodging drying mud to prevent it from taking hold. As she made slow progress through the streets of Sunnydale, her feet barely raised off the ground at each step.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Xander pulled the car to a halt outside Dawn's house; it was his and Anya's turn to baby sit. Since Buffy's death everyone had taken it upon themselves to look after her sister, adopting her as their own. Dawn's father had not been reached since her mother had died.

"You shouldn't expect immediate results," Xander advised, referring to the resurrection spell they had all taken part in, although it had been Willow who had provided the power behind the incantation. The others had been required to focus their joint memories of Buffy, to give substance to whatever the spell brought forward. This latter part, with its vagueness, disturbed Xander no end.

"I know," Dawn replied. "Some part of me still expected…...or hoped, at any rate that she would burst into the Magic Shop shouting I'm back."

"That would be more scary, if you asked me," Anya added.

They started to make their way up the path when Dawn noticed the front door was open. She looked at Xander; hope daring to show itself in her eyes. She then ran for the entrance.

"Dawn, wait," Xander shouted after her, but to no avail. He found the young girl, however, standing at the bottom of the stairs situated opposite the opened door. Dawn was looking down. "What's up, dear?"

"Mud," she replied simply. Xander followed Dawn's line of sight as she looked from the floor to the top of the stairs. Dried mud footprints traced each step. "The shower is on," she added after several seconds and she raced up the stairs with Xander and Anya close behind.

Dawn stopped at the doorway to the bathroom. She looked distressed so Xander held her shoulders and gently moved her aside to enable him to enter. Buffy sat huddled in the corner of the shower cubicle, fully clothed, with water flowing over her from above. Her eyes were open but no other sign of life registered from her.

Xander, with Anya close behind, approached his friend. Dawn held back. "Buffy?" Xander ventured. "Buffy, are you OK?" There was no reply so he tried a different approach. "You look as though you dug yourself out of….." he stopped suddenly in horror when he realised his attempt at humour was all too accurate.

He turned off the water and knelt down to Buffy's eye level. She finally showed some sign of consciousness; a brief flicker of her eyes confirmed that she registered Xander's presence. He reached out his hand and rested it gently on her shoulder. Buffy flinched as if stung and screamed. The sudden movement jolted Xander and he had to take hold of the sides of the cubicle to prevent falling backwards. He reached forward again, but was met by Buffy's feet kicking out frantically as she tried to squeeze herself ever more tightly into the corner of the shower, all the time screaming.

"Buffy!" Dawn finally echoed from the doorway.

Buffy stopped thrashing and went silent. Her eyes showed she was focusing on her sister. "Why am I here?" She whispered and went silent again.

Anya placed her hand on Xander's shoulder. "Why don't you go downstairs, Xander," she suggested. "Dawn and me will clean up here and join you later."

Relieved at being given a reason to leave the scene, Xander gratefully stood up and edged past Dawn.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

She finally eluded her captors. Whilst relieved to be out of prison, she was not going to allow herself to be used in someone else's plans for domination; there was more than one type of imprisonment and she was not going to be anyone's pawn or weapon. Been there, done that. So, Faith decided to lie low until she saw an opportunity to leave town. She knew where she had to go but was in no rush to get there, knowing as she did that it was the last place she would be welcome.

**Chapter One**

Two days later everyone gathered at Giles' apartment. Everyone except Buffy and Dawn. Eventually, however, the front door clicked open to reveal them standing. For the first time, Giles noticed that Buffy was slightly shorter than her younger sister. The difference was emphasized by her appearance. Standing in the doorway, she looked like a frightened schoolgirl.

Dawn led Buffy by the arm a few feet into living room. The Slayer had a wide-eyed fearful look as though being confronted by a host of enemies rather than her friends. She saw Giles, and then registered the presence of Xander and Anya, Willow and Tara. She then looked to her sister, who placed a hand on her back and gently edged Buffy forward. She made slow, hesitant progress to the nearest sofa. Feeling her way round to the front of it, she finally sat down. She sat up straight and again scanned the room's occupants.

Giles handed her a glass. She took it with both hands, which shook with the effort, and raised it to her lips. She stopped short, however, when she caught the aroma of alcohol. Buffy looked up at him curiously. "It's brandy," he smiled encouragingly. "I thought you could probably do with it and….and you are nearly twenty one after all."

Buffy looked away and raised it to her lips again and drank the contents in two gulps. She held up the glass gesturing for more, her eyes almost boring into Giles. He refilled her glass. It was then he noticed the tips of Buffy's fingers; the ruin of what had been fingernails. He flinched only slightly at the sight, but Buffy noticed and lowered her arm as though ashamed. She looked down at the contents of the glass.

"If I'd known, Buffy that you would have to…." Willow started to say but cut off when Buffy looked at her. "I'm sorry," she tailed off.

"Why…why am I here?" Buffy asked, her voice barely audible.

Giles attempted to explain, "Willow found a spell that…."

"No…" Buffy interrupted in a whisper. Her grip on the glass caused it to break. She ignored the spilt liquid and the new cuts to her hand. "Not how….why?"

"We had to," Giles replied. "Angel…" Buffy flinched at the name. "Angel contacted us; he had heard rumours that Wolfram and Hart were going to attempt to raise you…..like they did with Darla….."

Giles was stopped short again; this time by the door being flung open. Spike entered. He had a look of hope not seen for a long time. "Is she here?" He pleaded.

Everyone was then thrown back in shock by Buffy jumping out of the chair. She swung herself round and leapt at the vampire before her, using the sofa as a springboard to reach him and screaming at the same time. Spike was too stunned to defend himself and floundered backwards to the wall with Buffy's hands at his throat.

She proceeded to land several punches to his face and stomach in a fit of berserker rage.

Everyone shouted out for the Slayer to stop her assault, and Xander and Giles finally extricated the young woman from Spike. The vampire had not put up any defence and was visibly shaken, more by the attack itself than the effects of it.

Buffy fought against the combined grip of Giles and Xander; thrashing like a wild animal. They flung her against the other wall. "Buffy!" Giles shouted, whilst he and the younger man pinned her arms. "What are you doing?" She continued to thrash, exerting her strength to try and push herself away from the wall. Giles released his grip, but used his free hand to slap her across the face. "Stop it!" He commanded.

The response was immediate; Buffy stopped struggling and tried to flatten herself even more against the wall. Her eyes were wide open, the mix of fear and shock almost palpable. "But….but he killed me," she whispered cryptically, a plea for understanding in her voice.

Buffy then looked over at the victim of her rage. She put a hand to her mouth and seemed to finally realise what she had done. "I'm sorry…..I thought…" she attempted to explain, but noticed that the room was silent and all eyes on her. "I've got to go." She edged her way along the wall to the door.

"Buffy….." Giles attempted to speak.

"No…..please, I must …..Spike, I'm so sorry." She made a hurried exit.

"Xander, follow her," Giles instructed the young man. "Make sure she is OK."

**Chapter two**

Buffy found herself outside The Bronze. The door was open slightly; the nondescript entrance let out a shaft of light and a gentle hum of music and revelry. She let Giles' brandy persuade her to enter. It was a normal night for the club; a band played enthusiastically to its demographic audience whilst the latter mostly ignored the stage.

Buffy approached the bar; her face matched the shuffle of her feet in its lack of purpose and emotion. She sat on a free barstool and ordered bourbon. The surprise at being served the alcohol, despite being under-age, was soon replaced by the feeling of helplessness. She was powerless to prevent things happening in her life. Despite being able to fight demons, she had been unable prevent her mother dying from natural causes. Despite loving two men in her life, both had decided she was too high maintenance to spend their time on and, despite dying, she was dragged back as though she had not yet finished suffering.

Her attention wandered and memory images played themselves in no particular order across her mind. She remembered Angel giving her a silver cross then the glint of a sword. She recalled Xander and Willow's awkward introductions back when her life had seemed simpler. She remembered the blissful leap into the vortex; so high was the platform that the fall had allowed her precious seconds to relish the release it was bringing. A vicious fight in a New York Subway train and a beautiful, yet doomed, martial art battle in China flickered with other images. Buffy rubbed her eyes with her free hand; the other held firmly her glass. Some of the memories did not seem right; she had died only twice yet she was recalling past battles. She put down the glass, catching sight of her hands. Mud and earth and soil and seeping water enveloped her.

"Can I buy you a drink?" A voice asked from the next stool.

Buffy jolted and almost glared at the man sitting next to her. She had not seen him sit down and almost accused him of creeping up on her. At the same time, however, she felt like hugging him as if he had pulled her from the ground himself. She nodded her head slightly and offered him a silent smile.

The stranger ordered a repeat order for Buffy and guided the glass to her hand, only briefly registering her scars. "I'm Thomas, by the way," he introduced himself.

"You're English," was all she replied, noticing his accent.

"Yes."

"Do you know, Giles?" She asked.

"Giles! Wow is he here?….no I don't actually."

"OK, I admit that was a silly question when there are a good few million of you."

"Several in fact."

"Are you making fun of me?" Buffy asked dangerously, although she found her mood was lifting slightly.

"Only a little bit."

"So, what're you doing here…I'm sorry," she rubbed her eyes then refocused them on Thomas. "That wasn't supposed to sound like an accusation."

"No worries. A hard day?" Buffy nodded. "I'm on holiday; travelling up the West Coast to Vancouver, eventually," he explained good-humouredly.

"And you stopped at Sunnydale. That's…actually that's kind of odd."

"Petrol….Gas?…was cheap and it was getting dark. Some moron tried to grab me when I stopped at a red light. It shook me up so I decided to rest up until morning. That was last Thursday." He looked around. "I took a shine to the place and decided to spend some time here; one beach is much the same as another. Did I say my name is Thomas?" He asked holding out his hand.

Buffy shook his hand. "My name's Buffy," she announced.

Thomas looked puzzled. "Buffy? That's….very American."

"Damn right and proud of it," she said with a wide smile, warming to his company.

"Wow."

"What." Buffy looked concerned.

"That's a beautiful smile."

Buffy felt herself blush. She looked away awkwardly as if she felt unworthy of the compliment. Her attention was then drawn to a couple leaving the club. "Could you excuse me, please?" She addressed Thomas as she dismounted the stool at the same time. "Just for a while. I have something I need to do." She backed away from him awkwardly and then turned to follow the others.

Buffy walked into the alley that ran alongside the Bronze. Her eyes adjusted to the drop in light and she saw a man about to give his partner a kiss she would never forget for the rest of her short life.

"Excuse me!" Buffy shouted.

"Hey!" The girl returned. "Get your own man. I found this one first," she said, her arms wrapped around the vampire's torso.

"I'm saving your life, you stupid bitch."

The man morphed into his natural form and started to walk towards Buffy, his intended victim forgotten.

"Hey!" The girl shouted. She screamed in terror, however, when he turned his head and growled at her. She made a hasty exit, her screams echoing into the blackness as she got beyond the range of the weak lighting.

Buffy closed the gap between her and the vampire. She leapt and kicked him in the chest with one fluid motion. He fell back severely winded; his pride dented and a few ribs broken. Never the less, he resumed his approach with relentlessness only a demon could muster. Buffy picked up a brick she saw lying on the ground. With the skill of pitcher, she tossed it at his head. It made a sickening crunch as it hit nose cartilage. The demon crumpled to its knees, dazed and in agony.

Buffy strode up to him. She gripped his hair and tilted his head back viciously. "You still alive?" She took a stake from the inside pocket of her jacket, momentarily surprised to find she was carrying it, and drove it into his back and through his heart. She stood up straight as dust erupted from where substance had been, and she stared at her feet, lost in the moment. The brief adrenaline rush of the attack had disappeared and only a sense of inevitability remained; this was what she was destined to do, and not even death could release her from the monotony of bringing death to others.

"Nice move with the brick," a voice announced from behind and, for the second time that night, Buffy flinched at the unexpectedness of it. "And you called me vicious."

"Faith. You surprised me; I thought you were still in jail."

"I got out. I thought **you **were dead."

"I got out."

They stood staring at each other for several seconds. "I need to speak to Giles…" Faith said eventually. "Do you think I should phone ahead…..not being the most wanted person…well actually I probably am most wanted, but you get what I mean." Buffy did not respond. "I guess I could just turn up at his door." Faith looked to the entrance to the club. "Are you going back in? We could chat up some guys and end the night on a high..…in several ways."

Buffy turned her attention to the entrance. She still looked haunted by something and even Faith felt awkward at her silence, and strangely lonely standing in the alley with her enemy.

"Anyway," Faith continued, "I'm going in."

"OK," Buffy said eventually. "I'll probably see you later…." She turned and started to walk away.

"Buffy?" Faith called after her. The blonde slayer turned round. "Welcome back…for what it's worth."

"Thank you."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Buffy headed in the direction of the beach. The Moon was full again and hung heavy in the night sky, a silver hole on a black background. It made her think of Oz. She crossed a road, out of the glare of a nearby street light and on to the beach. She watched the waves advance. The water soaked the sand a darker colour then drained away again as it returned to the sea. The memory of her leap into freedom from the wooden tower played again. Buffy shut her eyes and relished in slow motion her descent, floating down. Rather than hit the ground, however, she flew up, arms out stretched and glided through a mosaic of colours; a psychedelic vision, until her mind transported her to the outskirts of a small town. By its appearance, and the surrounding scenery, it had to be from the American North West.

"Hello," said a young boy, who appeared at her side. "Come with me."

"I know you," Buffy hesitated. "You're the Anointed One. The last time I followed you I died."

"That was then," he responded cryptically and took her hand. He led her into the main street.

Buffy stood in the centre of the wide road. The boy had disappeared and she felt isolated but, strangely enough, not lonely. Seeing a slit of light escaping from a nearby door and hearing sounds, she walked over to what appeared to be a bar. Tentatively, Buffy opened the door and entered. The scene inside immediately gave off an aura of warm-hearted humour and friendship; the type of atmosphere a community elicits amongst its members. Buffy felt a sense of euphoria come over her; it seeped into her being from her feet to her face as though she were slowly being immersed into warm water.

"Hi! You're new aren't you?" Came a shout from the bar several feet from her. Buffy looked in the direction the voice had come. "The first drink is always on the house. What'll it be?"

Buffy hesitated briefly before ordering a coke.

"Are you alone?" Came another voice. It was an elderly man who sat opposite a woman, who Buffy assumed, was his wife. "If so, come and sit down with Laura and me. Hey, Jack! Bring the girl's drink

over here." He gestured to the landlord.

Buffy sat down hesitantly. The old woman smiled and she immediately felt at ease. "Thank you," Buffy said to the couple and again to the barman as he placed her drink and a napkin on the table.

"Can I get you anything to eat?"

"I…I don't have any money on me," she responded realising she was dressed in the clothes she had worn when she leapt from the tower.

"Don't worry, dear," the old man across from her added. "Jack, get her a burger and fries and put it on my tab."

"No…please, you don't have to…."

"Nonsense, I can well remember when I first arrived up north, with barely enough to live on, and I had a dog as well to feed. Besides, you look familiar somehow, as though I've seen you before."

"Yes," said his wife. "I was thinking the same. But not recent, I think. Rather, you remind me of someone I used to know years ago."

"That's right," the husband agreed. "A striking resemblance, actually. So, dear…what's your name, by the way?"

"B….Anne," she corrected herself in time.

"Well, Anne, I'm guessing you could do with a job. How about some shop work, huh? Laura and me run the local grocery store and we're getting a bit old for the hours it needs."

The vision changed; her sight momentarily misted over and she found herself standing on the veranda of a cabin, nestled in a small grove of conifers. She looked at her hand and found she was holding a key. She turned round and saw that she was still in the same town, but off to one side of it. A small lake lay several feet from the cabin with a small row-boat tied to a wooden jetty. It felt so familiar, yet not. She turned back to the door and inserted the key. It turned as it should and she entered.

"Surprise!" Shouted several voices at the same time as the light came on.

Buffy stood with her back to the door and was confronted by a host of people looking at her.

"Happy 21st, Anne," the old man welcomed her and led her into the main room which was laid out with food and drink.

"Happy Birthday, Anne," said Jack from behind the kitchen counter, serving drinks to the other guests.

The vision then changed several times. Buffy experienced flashes of laughter, parties, dancing and a whirl of joyous occasions until, finally she found herself walking towards the main street and knew she was heading for work at the local store. She was nearly there when she caught sight of a woman off to one side. A faint sense that she should know her played across Buffy's consciousness. It plagued her so she approached the figure. The lady was old and had long grey hair, but it still had vestiges of the blonde it used to be.

"Hello….I'm sorry to bother you, but do I know you?" Buffy asked. The woman smiled back; it was a friendly yet sad expression and Buffy felt a dreadful sense of foreboding. "Is there anything wrong?"

"No dear, but it's too soon," she responded mysteriously. "You have to go."

"Go…no, I don't have to go anywhere. I…" Buffy felt panic well up inside her.

"You are here too soon. You have to go; your friends are calling you. "

Everything started to fade around Buffy. "No!" She screamed.

"Don't worry," came a faint whisper before everything disappeared.

Buffy found herself back on the beach, the moon shining above her and the waves lapping the shore. Tears welled up and she cried silently into the night.

"Hello again."

Buffy swung round. "Why is everyone creeping up on me!….oh, sorry it's you. I'm sorry," Buffy stopped short when she saw it was Thomas standing before her.

"That's OK. I didn't mean to startle you…you're crying, what's wrong?" He held her shoulders and looked down at her. She broke down and he held her close. "Come on, I'll take you back to my chalet, and no objections," he added.

Whilst at Sunnydale Thomas was staying in a small single storey holiday chalet, one of a few self-contained dwellings comprising a local motel overlooking the beach. It was bordered by a knee-high picket fence with a small gate. Buffy allowed him to lead her into the hallway.

Thomas closed the door. He turned to see Buffy standing still against the wall. Her expression was lost and remote. He faced her again and gently wiped her eyes. She looked up at him, sorrow emanating from her, and he brushed a wayward lock of hair from her face. He risked a kiss and Buffy willingly accepted it and returned the gesture passionately, failing to hide her desperate need for closeness.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The Moon shone brighter in the desert; no lights competed with its brilliance. It cast shadows of rocks and the occasional tree that eked out a precarious existence in the searing heat of day and the shivering cold of night. Buffy was kept warm by a large bush that burned biblically before her. She observed her own form lying asleep next to Thomas in its flickering flames. Like the previous vision, Buffy realised she was reliving memories again.

"Hello, Buffy."

She would recognise the voice anywhere. She hadn't heard that accent for a long time. She turned round to face her companion in the night. "It's good to see you again, Kendra."

"I wish I could say the same. I thought you would last longer."

"I saw an opening to get out of the business and jumped at it." Buffy smiled but stopped when her attempt at humour elicited no response. "If you'd been there, you would think that funny."

"You never had the time to teach me a sense of humour."

"If I'd known Drusilla…" Buffy stated, guilt at Kendra's death still present.

"No worries," Kendra smiled this time.

"It **is **good to see you."

"And you," Kendra reciprocated.

"Now, tell me what I'm doing here. I was enjoying myself in my remote wood cabin."

"To fight for your freedom."

"I'm dead, Kendra. I'm done with the fighting. Just show me the Pearly Gates or whatever, or do I stay here?" She had stretched out her arm to show she meant their present surroundings. "I must say; if I have to stay here it's a shitty reward for dieing to save the world."

"That's the problem. You didn't die, you killed yourself."

"What! I closed the portal and saved the World!"

"The Key was there for that."

"She was my sister!"

"She was a ball of light in the form of non-existent girl."

Buffy thought back to the night on the platform. She remembered seeing her sister, blood pouring through her fingers.

"What do I have to fight for?" She asked, deciding not to argue the point. "Freedom from what?"

"Freedom to choose. Life and the continuance of your duty or death."

"What or who do I have to fight?"

"Your predecessors. You will have to fight the other slayers to earn the right to choose."

The vision fast-forwarded and Buffy now stood on a rocky outcrop overlooking the desert below. Her anger was on the verge of transforming into despair when Kendra approached her again. The cool evening's breeze slightly lifted her hair. She wore it long and without the band holding it in place as she had when she was alive.

"You are still angry," she stated rather than asked.

"Yes, damn it! And I'll stay angry. I've cried rivers in the last five years, enough for two lifetimes, so this desert will have to remain dry on my anger instead."

"Tears and anger, but no laughter?"

"I deserve my death, Kendra," she added, allowing a note of despair to sound. "I've earned it. I can't kill past slayers. I can't kill you."

"You won't kill them and they won't feel any pain. They're already dead. You, however, will feel every blow they inflict on you," she added.

"Suppose I just choose life and resume my duties?"

"You will still have to fight for that choice."

"And, if I let myself be beaten?" She asked, thinking back to a remote North Western town.

"That would be suicide again. Buffy you have to fight. Fight to win, to earn the right to choose your fate. There is no easy way out of being a slayer"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Buffy lay awake for several minutes before she lifted her feet over the edge of the bed and got dressed. Thomas stirred but did not wake up. Buffy left him and the chalet without looking back and made her way to the Magic Shop, where she knew the others would be gathering, discussing her behaviour of the night before.

**Chapter Three**

It was late morning when Buffy arrived at the Magic Shop. The closed sign was displayed, but she walked in anyway.

"You know, Giles you're never going to turn a profit if you keep shutting shop," she uttered as she entered.

"Buffy!" Willow welcomed, relief clearly evident. "We were worried about you."

"So," the Slayer chose to ignore the comment, "it was be raised by you or be raised by someone else."

"Yes, and lawyers at that," Xander added.

Buffy then noticed Quentin sitting at one end of the large table at the back of the shop. He sipped tea

from Giles' best china. She levelled her eyes at him.

"Hello, Buffy," the Watcher said smoothly in a clipped accent more English than Giles' warm dialect. "Some of my colleagues and I were dismayed to hear of your sacrifice."

Buffy did not comment. She turned her attention to Giles for an explanation. "Quentin is here on urgent business," he offered.

"I'm sure. Social calls are not Council traits." Buffy looked around at the Elder. "So what is it this time?"

"There has been a coup within the Watchers' Council," he replied calmly.

"You're kidding," Buffy responded, genuinely amused.

Quentin's only gesture was a slow shutting and opening of his eyes and to take another sip of his tea. Buffy walked to the side and poured herself a cup of coffee. She then sat down at the table, facing the Watcher. She raised the cup to her mouth and blew across the surface of the coffee to cool the liquid. Everyone else remained still and silent as though a two headed play was being acted out before them.

"A coup?" Buffy eventually repeated. "Isn't that a bit self-indulgent? I mean, what with all those demons wandering around." Quentin remained silent. "So, what's the coup about? Did someone insist on muffins with tea instead of crumpets?"

Quentin closed and opened his eyes slowly again and allowed the corner of his mouth to reveal he at least acknowledged the satire. "Nothing so Swiftian," he said.

Buffy looked blank and turned to Giles again for assistance. "Jonathan Swift…..Gulliver's Travels," he offered.

Buffy continued to look blank but then smiled widely. "Don't worry, Giles. I get the reference….I saw it on Hallmark." She returned her attention to Quentin. "Why are you here? I mean, you already knew about the coup and I really don't care."

"There are some amongst the Council who would like to take control and use our influence for…shall I say, other purposes. I'm here to reassure you that we are not all your enemies."

Buffy rubbed her eyes wearily and looked at the man through the resulting blur. "I never said I regarded you as my enemy. Up until now I would have said we were allies. Tell me, why should I feel differently now? Why should I regard you as anything more than an annoyance?"

"You are not stupid, young lady," Quentin admonished her. "The Council already regard you as a wayward warrior. If Faith wasn't so amoral you would have found yourself…...replaced by now."

Giles glared at Quentin and everyone else caught the pause before Quentin had carefully chosen his word. Buffy chose to ignore it.

"Now the break has occurred…" Quentin started to add.

"You're hoping that I'll rally to the cause of the old guard. Well think again, buster, I'm going to be too busy destroying Wolfram and Hart to get involved in your petty politics." Giles looked to Buffy in surprise at the announcement. "If you want to kill each other, that's fine by me."

"It would seem we have a common enemy then," Quentin commented cryptically. Buffy was suitably curious. "The…dissatisfied element of the Council have allied themselves with the legal firm you are set upon assaulting. Indeed," he added, "the spell that was going to be used to raise you was donated by my erstwhile colleagues."

Buffy was genuinely rocked by the revelation; her face registered shock and she stood up, scraping the chair back suddenly, causing it to topple over. She walked over to the shop counter and leant forward on it for support.

"Quentin," Giles spoke up. "Are you sure of this?" The elder Watcher nodded gravely. "That's monstrous. Don't they know what powers Wolfram and Heart wield? They must know that they damn themselves by even contemplating allying their knowledge with them."

"The young are always blind to such risks. The short-term rewards are always more attractive. Buffy," Quentin called to the Slayer. "You must appreciate now why I am here. The rebels must be stopped and their leader, Thomas especially."

Buffy turned round. Her expression had the look of barely suppressed rage. "Nothing has changed; Wolfram and Hart remains my target and anyone who gets in my way will be cut down," she declared with a determination that scared her friends.

"Buffy, the Council must be secured, even Mr Giles sees that."

"I will have my revenge!" She cut him off. "I've been dragged back to a life I had escaped from and into a war. I will choose the battlefield and the opponent, not you or anyone else!"

**End of part one**


	2. Chapter 2

**Resurrected**

**Part 2**

**Rage**

Give me release

Witness me

I am outside

Give me peace

Heaven holds a sense of wonder

And I wanted to believe that I'd get caught up

When the rage in me subsides.

(Delirium ft. Sara McLachlan)

**Chapter One**

"How was I raised?" Buffy asked, catching Willow by surprise. The young witch looked to Giles, then Dawn. Buffy noticed the exchange and followed the gaze to her mentor and sister. "It is sort of important to me." She looked back to her friend. "I…I don't hold it against you, Willow, but I need to know."

"We repeated the spell the monks used to create Dawn…..or as near to it."

"Willow took some of my blood to recreate your being," Dawn picked up. "It seemed logical since I was made from you."

"I know of the spell," Quentin added unexpectedly. He had remained quiet having failed to talk Buffy out of seeking revenge on Wolfram and Hart. He would rather she declare her allegiance to the elders of the Council against the recent usurpers. "You played with high stakes, young lady," he directed at Willow. "A part of me is highly impressed, but I cannot help but wonder what the repercussions will be." Willow failed to betray surprise or puzzlement. "Nature exists as a balance," Quentin continued for everyone else's benefit. "Life cannot just be created from nothing without her wanting it; it tips the scale. She would seek to bring it back to an even keel."

At that moment Spike entered the shop, bursting through the door and throwing off the large black cloak he had been using to shield his pale skin from the sun. "Why I chose to live in California, I don't know," he uttered before taking out a packet of cigarettes, extricating one and lighting it in one smooth well-practiced move. He took in a deep breath of smoke and tar and released it dramatically. "Hi guys, miss me?"

Willow looked over to him briefly. Buffy felt a surge of adrenaline but kept herself in check. She felt ashamed and embarrassed of her violent reaction the day before, yet part of her wanted to repeat the act. Dawn's face lit up, however. "Hi, Spike, come and join us," she beckoned. Buffy knew that the vampire had looked out for her sister in her own absence. As such, she vowed to treat him better; it was what he deserved after all he had done, but which she had failed to acknowledge so far.

They were all taken unawares again by a violent flash of light from the far end of the shop. From out of the glare a figure could be seen to form, until a young man stood before them, familiar to only Quentin and Buffy. Thomas' form shimmered. His body alternated from bright white to the colour of his clothes as the spell tried to hold steady.

"After such a light show you are still a disappointment, Thomas," Quentin spoke.

"Hi, Quentin, good to see you too. How's the troop rallying going?" The vision surveyed the shop. "They don't look that rallied to me." His eyes rested on Buffy. "Hello again, Buffy. You left this morning without saying goodbye. That's very hurtful. Was I not…good?" Buffy stood motionless. "I don't know about you, but I had a wonderful time. You're quite safe, Quentin, but be careful Rupert, this one's quite a minx."

"Willow," Buffy pleaded to her friend.

The Wicca lifted her right hand, palm facing the unwelcome watcher.

"I can't believe I seduced a Slayer," Thomas said before he noticed Willow.

His mocking smile strengthened Willow's confidence and she added a little flourish to her spell with a dismissing flick of her wrist. Thomas appeared to catch fire from his feet upwards. He screamed and broke the link. Willow staggered backwards but was surprisingly caught by Quentin.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you," she replied wiping a trail of blood from her nose.

"Promise me you'll never do anything like that again, and you know what I'm talking about."

Willow smiled. "Yessir. He won't forget it though, will he?"

"Almost certainly," Quentin smiled.

They both then turned their attention, with the others in the room, to Buffy. She stood silent and everyone held his or her breath.

"You slept with him!" Spike yelled at her, his arms swaying wildly. "You didn't waste your bloody time! When did you have time to do that, for fuck's sake?"

Buffy went from momentary shock to rage. "When did I have the time?" She matched his volume. "I beat the crap out of you last night, then had sex with Thomas and came back here, how about that or do you want a minute by minute recap?"

"I don't know you any more!"

"No? What do you want in a slayer, Spike? I can do demure or I can do killer." She

glared at the vampire. "I can do Boxer Chinese; all graceful moves and doomed beauty or…" she closed the gap between them and pushed him to the wall, "…or I could be a New York street Punk; instinctively violent. The violence turns you on, admit it!" She levelled a punch to his face and stepped back.

"What are you talking about?" Spike wiped blood from his lip.

"Memories! Not mine, I grant you, but they're in my mind never the less. You cut quite a figure back in the 70s; the Billy Idol look became you. I can almost sense your victim's arousal with your arm around her neck ready to snap it…."

"Stop it! That's not me! Not any more…."

"It's not me, either! But, I have the memories…..all their memories. I remember your hands around my throat and your teeth in my neck. I remember a score or more other equally violent deaths at the hands of opponents more vicious than you. I…I can't get their deaths out of my head…..you're not the only one who has been inflicted with the need to seek redemption."

"Redemption from what?"

"From trying to renege on my duty."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Spike said quietly. "But, why do you have to be someone else? Why can't you be Buffy?"

"What, Little Miss Futile Gesture? She's dead. You buried that little girl. I didn't claw my way out of the ground to resume where she left off." She looked around at her silent friends. "Don't look at me like that," she pleaded. "I won't be judged!" She backed away as though she were trying to make space for a battle.

"It's all right, Buffy," Giles placated. "We're just shocked that you would let yourself be seduced…"

"I wasn't seduced!" She spat back angrily. "I wasn't seduced," she repeated quietly. "I….I was lonely. I was….."

"Horny," Spike butted in.

"I was….upset. I needed to forget; to take my mind off…Anyway, I chose two hours of meaningless sex," she ended defiantly.

"Two hours!" Anya repeated in a high pitch tone. "Sorry," she apologised quickly afterwards and sunk back into her chair, but eyed Xander at the same time.

Buffy still felt everyone's judging eyes. "It felt good, damn it! It was good sex and I was in full control!"

"Way to go B," came a voice from the doorway.

Buffy turned round. "Oh yes, I forgot to mention, Faith's back."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Hi, everyone. I bet you didn't expect to see me again," Faith said with an impish smile.

"Oh, I don't know," Xander commented. "You always seem to crop up when we least expect it."

"Hello, Xander and how are you? Fancy another tumble? Now, if you want to talk about seduction…"

"You slept with her!" Anya faced her fiancé.

"It was nothing," Xander said hopefully.

"Oh, thanks for that," Faith added putting on a mock hurt expression.

"What I meant was, it happened so quick…..although not that quick, you understand….."

Faith laughed and Xander shrunk back into the shadows.

"What are you doing here, Faith?" Giles asked to break the farce.

The rogue slayer sat on one of the vacant chairs. She sat up straight with her hands placed on her legs, as though attending an interview. The others scraped their chairs into a semi-circle facing her to strengthen the analogy. Faith explained how she was removed from her cell and transported to a holding point. She had originally thought she was being sent to a more secure unit, as punishment for her behaviour on sensing Buffy's death. Giles and Quentin showed special interest at this revelation. They were unaware that such a link existed between slayers, but then two had never existed at the same time since Buffy had been called. Giles wondered whether Buffy had sensed Kendra's demise.

"So who took you?" Willow asked.

"I'm guessing the Council…..the rebels, I mean," Xander turned to Quentin awkwardly.

Faith looked puzzled. "We'll explain it later," Giles rescued her. "Was it a watcher, do you think?"

"Don't think so. I would have thought they'd like me dead….it's a popular aspiration these days," she added bitterly. "No, these had the look of our friendly neighbourhood lawyers."

"Wolfram and Hart again." Giles uttered.

"The very same. They wanted me to be their pet slayer, offered me an apartment and all."

"Why didn't you accept?" Xander ventured.

"Been there, done that, remember. Besides, I'm trying to reform. What's up?" She asked smiling, when a sea of doubting looks met her declaration. "You cynical bastards, you've hurt my feelings. What is this, pick on a slayer day?" She stood up and placed an arm round Buffy, who couldn't help but smile in return.

"So, you have all the memories of past slayers," Xander directed at Buffy. "That's so cool, like a Trill in Deep Space Nine," he added enthusiastically.

"Yea, really cool," Buffy mimicked sarcastically. "I can remember all their battles and their painful deaths, and if you compare me to a character from Star Trek again, Xander I swear I'll….."

"Set your phaser on kill?" Faith offered.

"OK," Buffy held her arms up in mock surrender, "I'm going out back to beat a wooden post to death."

**Chapter Two**

Later that day, as the sun was starting to get low in the sky, Buffy pulled up alongside Faith. The younger slayer had to step back as the vehicle mounted the kerb. Buffy got out of the car and stood facing her former adversary.

"Ready?"

"Yea. Oh hell, Buffy, I've only just come from LA. I feel like a commuter going back so soon."

"I will have my revenge, Faith. I will get even. They will regret they ever contemplated using me. If it means I die trying….."

"Oh, don't die again, please. That would be so boring," Faith interrupted.

Buffy laughed. "Oh, Faith this is going to be fun!"

"Be careful, Buffy. You don't want to end up like me."

"They declared war on us. You were right, all those years ago; we're slayers! That's got to mean something, that we're special, or why else do we do it?"

"OK OK, I'm encouraged, but we're going to need a bigger car," Faith added looking over Buffy's shoulder.

Buffy turned round to see Giles, Willow and Xander approaching. She had to try hard not to show her relief and joy.

"Did you really think we wouldn't come with you?" Willow asked, her expression just as Buffy remembered it from the early days.

"Not for a second," Buffy responded stretching her hand out to her friend.

"Liar," Xander added surveying the car that was obviously too small to fit them all.

"Spike should be here soon with something more suitable," Giles offered.

Buffy walked up to the Watcher. She looked up at his eyes trying to discern his thoughts. "The Council won't approve of you taking part in my little war. Quentin would prefer you…..and I. …. tow the party line, rather than go for Thomas head on."

"The Council are dithering procrastinators!" Giles replied heatedly. "Their muddy thinking and inefficiency has held us back more than aided."

Buffy laughed. "Dithering procrastinators? That'll do it, for sure. You don't mind if I use sticks and stones, though, huh?"

At that moment a large camper van pulled up. Blackened windows revealed it was the Spike's chosen mode of transport. The door opened to reveal the vampire sitting proud. "What do you think?" He asked, his arms out stretched inviting the others to take in his acquisition.

"A Winnebago?" Faith was the first to respond, her tone incredulous.

"But, Faith," Xander uttered. "What better way to wage war than in a Winnebago?"

"Please! That's far too much alliteration for my fragile being," Giles groaned.

"I think it's a wonderful way to wage war," Willow added, "…in a Winnebago," she tailed off with a guilty smile.

"With a Watcher and a witch," Xander continued.

"Don't worry, Giles," Spike said from the front seat. "I'm rather surprised these products of American education know what alliteration means."

"Excuse me!" Xander spoke up. "May I defend my generation and say, hey!"

"Oh, well argued that man."

Buffy opened the side door to the van. "Well this banter is fun, and to think I could be dead and missing it, but could we get going?"

"I'm coming too," came a voice from behind them. Dawn stood with a small travel bag slung over her shoulder.

"Dawn, pet this is….."

She glared at Spike, daring him to continue.

"Dawn, you can't come," Giles said. "You know it's too dangerous and…."

"I'm nearly sixteen, the same age Buffy started slaying."

"That's not the point….."

"She can come," Buffy interrupted. She smiled at her sister and took her hand to guide her into the van. "We travel together."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

It was dark on the road Spike chose to take to Los Angeles. The near totality of the desert night was in sharp contrast to the harsh over-bright interior of the van. Despite the relative limited space, the gang had split into two groups; Buffy sat with Giles whilst Faith sat with Willow and Xander.

Dawn was behind the curtain, sitting with Spike at the front. "Don't you find it lonely driving along empty roads, across emptier spaces?" She posed to her protector.

"I find it strangely soothing actually. Probably the angst ridden poet in me," he smiled. He drove with one hand on the wheel. The other held a cigarette. For Dawn's benefit, he blew the smoke out the open window beside him. "Early morning is best, just as the sun is starting to appear on the flat horizon. It paints long shadows of any object that punctuates the surroundings. And, if it has been raining the night before, or there has been a heavy dew, the trees steam as it rises. It creates an almost primordial feel."

Dawn was mesmerised by the unusually eloquent vampire sitting next to her. A sense of sadness threatened to overcome her. She felt the need to add something equally profound. "LA must be a stark contrast."

"LA? LA's a neon wrecked, ad bombarded city. Kind of like London's Soho, only ten times bigger. I like it."

"So do I," came a voice from behind. Faith's head poked through the curtains. The slayer sat between Dawn and Spike and helped herself to one of vampire's cigarettes. "LA feels real, unlike the picket fence blandness of Bedford Falls-lite Sunnydale."

"But, it must be dangerous there. More crime and more demons and…."

"The world outside can be breathtakingly beautiful, Dawn even when it's being relentlessly brutal. Just look at Spike, for instance," Faith eyed the vampire teasingly.

Dawn resented the intrusion. "What's up, Faith, did you tire of Xander and Willow's conversation?" She asked petulantly and felt childish afterwards.

The slayer eyed the younger woman then glanced back at Spike. She then gave Dawn a knowing look, realising she had interrupted something. She smiled at the obvious infatuation Dawn had for the man driving the van. "I don't think Willow has forgiven me for the way I treated Tara the year before last and Xander probably thinks I'm going to jump his bones again," she winked at Dawn, who couldn't help laughing at the vision that played across her mind.

"This is fun," Faith uttered. "It feels just like old…." She briefly went serious as though trying to conjure up memories. "Well, it's probably just like old times would feel like." She finished and sat back in the seat. She puffed on her cigarette and put her feet up on the console.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Thank you," Buffy said simply to Giles as they sat at the back of the van, in its only bedroom.

"For what?" He asked curiously.

"For not saying we shouldn't go to LA. For not saying my duty lies in Sunnydale, by the Hellmouth. For not being Giles," she smiled at her last remark.

Giles stood up off the bed to leave. He looked down at his student. She was so tiny. The thought reminded him of Jenny, who so long ago had made the same comment before Buffy had left to face the Master. "I have long stopped underestimating your judgement and intelligence and commitment. Your desire to rid the world of Wolfram and Hart is understandable. I am very proud of you, you know?"

"Stop it," Buffy looked away. "You'll make me blush and that does lousy things to my complexion. Seriously though, I need to do this. Since I came to Sunnydale all those years ago I feel I haven't looked forward. I need to strive for something."

"It hasn't been all bad has it?"

"No, of course not. There have been some wonderful moments. Lousy half hours, but wonderful moments."

**Chapter Three**

Have you come here for forgiveness?

Have you come to raise the dead?

Have you come here to play Jesus…To the lepers in your head?

Did I ask too much?

More than a lot?

You gave me nothing.

Now it's all I got.

We're one…But we're not the same.

We hurt each other…Then we do it again.

(U2)

"There it is," Faith said unnecessarily.

Her and Buffy had decided to spend their first night back in Los Angeles wandering the streets, gauging the City they had been absent from; Buffy had only briefly returned a year ago to chase Faith. The younger slayer had of course been incarcerated since then.

"It's…..it's not what I was expecting," Buffy responded.

"It's impressive, I have to admit. The inside is fairly opulent as well." Faith looked to her companion. "I'm off to find a club, interested?"

Buffy did not respond straight away, but rather continued to stare ahead. She eventually turned to Faith. "No….no I think I'll hang around a bit. You go ahead."

"OK, see you later then." Faith ambled off.

Buffy craned her neck up to the top of the building. It swayed in the dark cloudless sky as her body rested its weight from one foot to the other. Her line of sight then followed the sleek concrete and glass down to the ground and her eyes rested transfixed on the large neon sign that read 'Wolfram and Hart, Attorneys at Law'. She finally dragged herself away from the site and headed back into the city main.

She picked the first bar she came across. She squeezed pass revellers, who could have moved out of her way but who felt it more fun initiating body contact, for whatever lonely or perverted reason. She finally reached the bar itself.

"Jack Daniels please," she asked not meeting eye contact with the barman, her attention elsewhere instead.

"Are you old enough?"

Buffy looked up at him, only just making out his features through the reflection of light bouncing from the large mirror behind him. "Does it matter?" She posed.

"'Suppose not," he conceded and placed the order in front of her and went on to the next customer.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The kiss was passionate and tasted of her bourbon and his tequila. He returned the passion. Buffy draped her arms over his shoulders and lifted herself off the stool she had been perched on for nearly two hours. Her legs were wrapped round his torso and he held her waist as they continued the final act of the play that had started with drunken flirting and the obligatory exchange of lies. The stranger lowered her back to the barstool and stepped back slightly to enable him to drain his glass. He looked at the blonde staring provocatively back at him. He could read nothing behind those eyes and preferred it that way. He reached out a hand and traced one finger under her neck and down her front. She turned to the bar and finished her own drink, then stood to face him. She was petite to his average height and reached up on tiptoe to initiate another embrace. He reciprocated willingly.

"Hey, get a room, why don't you," the barman commented from behind. He had been witness to the two-way seduction for the last hour and was getting bored of it.

The man placed a number of dollar bills on the wood surface, all the time not taking his eyes off Buffy. He was about to lead her from the bar when she stopped. "Come on now, darling you don't want another drink. Let's go somewhere…..Hey where do you think you're going?" Buffy had relinquished her hold from the mutual attraction and seemed to be staring at something. "Hey…." The man repeated. A little more annoyed this time.

"I've…..I've got to go now," was all Buffy said in response.

"Like hell!" He argued and grabbed her by the arm. "I've invested too much money on you the last hour to be teased off just like that." He tried to swing her round but she moved of her own volition.

"I said I've got to go!" She shouted and pushed him. He went flying back, his feet lifting off the floor.

Buffy did not see him fall as she was already heading to the door. She entered the street. The humidity of the night air, after having been cocooned in the air- conditioned bar, hit her full on. She took a sharp intake of breath to cleanse her lungs of cigarette smoke and bourbon.

"What is it with you?" She demanded of the figure standing before her and whom she had noticed a few minutes earlier. "Do you consider it your task to be the Summers' guardian angel? Well, you may not have noticed, but I died recently which is not an encouraging track record, huh? And where is Dawn right now?"

"She's at Angel's" Spike responded calmly.

"Yeah? Is that entirely safe? I mean, he has a reputation for seducing cheerleaders, don't you know?"

"Let's go to the hotel."

"But I'm having fun."

"You're drunk."

"That's a part of the fun process," she said finally and turned away from him, leaving Spike standing.

"I thought you came here to beat the crap out of Wolfram and Hart."

"They'll still be there tomorrow. It's not as though they're in hiding," she replied without turning round.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Buffy emerged from the replacement bar she had found shortly after leaving Spike an hour earlier. She maintained an exaggerated steady pace as she started her journey to the hotel.

"Are you coming or not?" She asked.

Spike stepped out of the shadows and assumed a position at her side. "What's up, don't know your way?" He asked calmly.

"No. I should get back anyway, in case they all worry about me." They walked for a few minutes until Buffy stopped. She faced Spike. "Thank you….for looking after Dawn, I mean."

Spike shrugged his shoulders. "In truth, she probably looked after me more. We better get back just in case she needs you."

"I didn't mean it back there…..what I said about her being in danger with Angel and…."

"It's not him I'm worried about. When I left, Cordelia was saying something about always wanting a kid sister and braiding her hair or something."

"And you left her there!"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"You reek of spirits," Cordelia admonished turning up her nose. She was standing with Gunn by the reception desk.

"Why, thank you, Cordelia. It's good to see you too."

"You're drunk!"

"And you're vain and imperious, but I'll be sober in the morning." Buffy staggered back a couple of steps, a wide smile on her face. "Wow, that was an ambition achieved." She meandered her way to the main staircase.

"What happened to you, Buffy?" Cordelia asked after her sadly.

Buffy misinterpreted her tone. "What, in general or just tonight?" She countered dangerously. "Keep up woman!"

"Hey!" Gunn spoke up for his colleague.

"Who are you?" Buffy directed at the stranger. "I..Don't..Know..You!"

"I know Angel."

"So? That makes you just half relevant here then, doesn't it."

"Buffy, calm down," came Giles' voice from half way up the staircase.

She picked up an ornament and threw it against the far wall.

"OK, now that was an antique," Cordelia commented.

"I will not calm down! Faith showed me where our enemy have been hiding out."

"Who?" Gunn asked.

"Wolfram and Hart! Do you know where?"

"In…."

"Yes! In a fucking great skyscraper! Hardly covert, huh? Why have they been allowed to operate for so long? You've been here nearly three years!"

"I seem to recall that Angelus was given free reign for nearly a year, and he lived in a fucking great mansion!" Cordelia responded angrily.

Buffy swept another object on to the floor in her rage and reeled back with the effort and with the effects of the alcohol in her bloodstream. She caught sight of her sister standing with Giles. A wave of shame and embarrassment flowed over her and she averted her gaze, only to see Angel standing in the doorway. Buffy fled in the direction of the hotel kitchens. The vampire followed her.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Angel found her standing with her back to him. She heard his approach echoed off the stainless steel appliances all around her and the hanging pans and implements.

"What do you want, Angel?" she turned and faced him defiantly in an attempt to dismiss him.

He moved closer to her but she responded by stepping back. "It's good to see you. I…..when Willow told me you had died…I….."

"Yeah? Well I'm back again. Did you really think a little thing like death would keep me down? You really don't know me, do you?"

"I've missed you."

"That's nice, thank you."

"I love you."

"Love you too, but aren't I bit old for you?" She said cruelly but her eyes fixed on his betrayed her. She turned away from him and made to leave by the fire exit.

"Are you saying you don't have any feelings for me any more?"

Buffy swung round suddenly. "Of course I still have feelings for you." Her voice broke with the intensity of her reply. "I love you. My whole being aches so much that even when I'm making love to someone else, I can't forget you. But, I don't want to love you, Angel," she said desperately. "You're like a religion; I resent the need, the reliance, the limits your memory puts on me, but I can't live without you in my life!" Angel reached out a hand. "No!" She backed away in horror. "I stopped going to church long ago."

She backed away in fear of her own weakness and turned to the fire exit. She tried the release bar but it wouldn't budge. In anger and desperation, she drove her clenched fists into the wood, creating one then two then three holes in the surface. She cried with rage at her failure to extricate herself and leant her weight against the immovable barrier. Angel made up the distance between them and took hold of her arms. He pulled her round to face him.

Buffy looked up at him, allowing herself to be held in his embrace. She caught her reflection in his eyes and felt overcome with a beautiful, deep sorrow, with a sense of grief and loss and nostalgia. It was as though she had an aerial view of her life laid out before her. She buried her face in his chest and wept uncontrollably. Her knees gave way and Angel lowered her to the floor. Together they knelt in a tight embrace. Eventually Angel held Buffy at arms length to look in her eyes.

"It never ends," she uttered. "As much as I try to run, to hide…..to die! I'm dragged back. It never ends," she repeated quietly and he held her close again before standing up with her in his arms.

He carried her out of the kitchen and past the others still standing in the hotel lobby. He then took her upstairs.

"Poor Buffy," Wesley whispered. He had arrived shortly after Angel. "She tries with such touching desperation to escape her fate. It is heartbreaking to see her fail every time."

"Yeah, but she always seems to find someone to hold her; to carry her away," Cordelia commented. "It must be a gift."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Angel stood up to leave. He had laid Buffy on a bed in one of the many unused hotel rooms.

"Angel." He turned to her voice. "Am I doing the right thing?….going after Wolfram and Hart," she added at his questioning look. "Is revenge right?"

"Call it justice and it doesn't sound so bad."

"I only ask 'cos I'm having serious doubts right now. I mean, I was so angry….am still angry. Is this one man…..one person crusade right?"

"If we don't do it, no one else will."

"I suppose so," she accepted willingly.

Angel was about to leave again but turned round at the last moment as though hesitating to add something. "Buffy." She turned her head towards his voice. "It can end." Buffy regarded her ex lover questioningly, blinking at the light from the hallway as it framed him in the doorway. "I visited the Oracles this evening."

**End of part two**


	3. Chapter 3

**Resurrected **

**Part 3 **

**Silence**

**Chapter one**

Angel descended the stairs to the hotel lobby, where everyone else was assembled. Faith was still out, however, and Dawn was in bed.

"How is she?" Willow asked.

"Terrified and fascinated," he replied cryptically. "Her every instinct is telling her to run, but she feels both obligated and curious as to the outcome."

"The biggest mistake I made, when I took over as Watcher, was to regard being a Slayer as duty over emotion," Wesley thought out loud. "It is what every trainee is taught." He looked to Giles and got his agreement. "Watcher lore paints them as fighting machines when in fact they are young people with the same cares and desires as the rest of us. Buffy is a fundamentally good, yet tragically flawed human being disintegrating under intolerable pressure with rare courage and intensity…"

"Oh come on," Cordelia interrupted. "Buffy Buffy Buffy."

"Not now…..dearest," Xander tried to interject but retreated from his former partner's daggered glance.

"She may be blonde but she's no Fay Wray," Cordelia continued.

"Are you jealous?" Willow accused. She was no longer scared of her former tormentor and raised herself from her seat to emphasis her confidence. "Do you resent not being number one girl any more?"

"Don't you throw that at me!" Cordelia also stood up. "I've earned some respect from you after what I've been through the last two years. And," she addressed everyone, "right now I'm probably Buffy's best friend." Everyone else avoided commenting, but their shuffles and expressions betrayed them. "Look at you. You're a bunch of hypocrites. You mourn Buffy's loss of innocence and non-life, but do you help her? You," she pointed to Giles, "you rub your eyes dramatically, _'hanging on in quiet desperation in the English way'_. Yet, you have lectured her until she's screaming inside that her duty and birthright is to fight demons. For five years! And you," she turned to Xander and then Willow. "her friends. You pity her and yet in the same breath, when she returned weeks after killing Angelus, you condemned her for deserting you. Hell, I even joined in. Now you're too busy playing doctor with your pet demon and you're making 'life choices'." She pointed to Xander and Willow in turn.

"Err, guys," Xander uttered awkwardly whilst looking in the direction of the hotel entrance.

"What is that?" Willow added as tendrils of mist or smoke slowly wound themselves through the keyhole and the open windows.

"Hey, Jay and not-so-silent Bob," Cordelia complained. "Don't interrupt my tirade, please…..oh," she interrupted herself on noticing the increasing mist as it started to hide sight of the doorway.

"I really think we should arm or something," Xander suggested.

"It's only smoke…." Wesley commented.

"Am I the only pop culture vulture here? Think Raiders of the Lost Ark, for crying out loud!"

"Shit, the boy has a point," Spike added and ran to the back of the lobby and stood prone for attack.

Gunn reciprocated and produced a blade from under the reception desk. He drove it into the wood in readiness to grab it when needed. He then knelt behind the counter and stood up again with a large wooden box. He opened it to reveal a variety if weapons. The others nervously approached and selected from the contents.

Taking up various positions around the hotel atrium they stood awkwardly, feeling foolish at the stand-off against something as innocent as mist, yet also fearful. They had all seen the film. True to their worse fears, the smoke split back into individual tendrils. They then took form; eyeless faces attached to emaciated bodies with limbs comprised of sinew and muscle but not skin. In seconds, where smoke had existed, now stood wraiths conjured from Tolkien's worse imagining. They were unarmed but where hands should have been were scythe like appendages. As if on cue, Buffy emerged from the landing above and stood on the stairs looking down at the scene, and Faith swung open the doors behind the uninvited guests.

"Faith!" The blonde slayer shouted to the brunette. "Catch." She tossed her a dagger dangerously but expertly to the new arrival, who plucked it from the air with out moving from her standing position.

Buffy then produced two more and stood waiting for action. The ghouls raised their arms and screamed a battle cry. Without aid of a run up or a spring board, Buffy lifted off the stairs and dived into the midst of the attackers. She collided arms first into one wraith, her blades skewering it. It fell backwards with her weight and she rolled off and stood up as a gymnast would. Ignoring her audience, however, she swung round with her arms outstretched and decapitated another. As though everyone was held entranced, it took seconds before the room erupted into a frenzy.

"Of course, I could have done that," Faith commented.

"In your dreams," Buffy responded with a smile.

"Thanks for that. What dead slayer did you learn that move from?"

Buffy did not reply as she was already ramming another target from behind. Faith joined, making battle cries at each lunge she made. It took several minutes, but eventually the battle was won. The forces for good slumped down in various parts of the room and in various degrees of injury but equal exhaustion.

Buffy walked from one companion to another as a general would survey his men after a battle. Gunn was unconscious and bleeding from a deep gash to his chest. Wesley nursed his arm, the pain acute enough to prevent him from noticing her. Giles sat on the stairs. He held his head in his hands. On her approach he ran his fingers through his hair and looked down at his pupil. He put on his glasses to better see her and offered a weak, supporting smile. She noticed several violent red blade cuts but nothing obviously dangerous. She saw Willow wipe blood from her nose, caused by her use of magic. She was otherwise unharmed as she stood in the epicentre of a number of charred corpses. Cordelia was close by, leaning fearfully against the wall, having been protected by the Wicca's power. She walked up to Willow and took her hand, half in thanks and perhaps to offer support as her saviour looked unsteady.

"Hi, Buff," Xander called from behind. She turned round to his voice. "We….were just talking about you."

"Who, me?" She asked in her best innocent voice and finger on cheek.

"You…and Faith arrived just in time," Giles commented.

"Your brandishing of weapons woke me. I'd been dreaming at the time."

"A nightmare?" Xander asked.

"No, actually. It was quite beautiful….and heart-rending and madly confusing," she smiled. "Like a Lynch movie…. only without the dwarf." She returned to where Gunn was lying. "Is he OK?" She asked Wesley, who was leaning over him.

"He'll live, but he needs a hospital…so do I actually."

At that moment Cordelia let out a scream. Buffy turned round in time to see her on her knees clutching her head. "Cordy?" She looked concerned. Angel was by his assistant's side and supported her weight as she leant into his chest. Buffy could not help feeling briefly resentful but quickly felt guilty. "Is she OK?" She asked him.

"She will be…in a few moments." He looked up at Buffy. "She's having one of her visions. They're not too pleasant."

"You could have warned us about that," Xander added from behind. He had also made to approach Cordelia. "It scared the living daylights out of me…and they had only just plucked up the courage to return after the battle we just had."

Cordelia opened her eyes caught her audience staring down at her. "Show's over folks. Did I pass the audition?"

"I didn't know…." Buffy stammered. "Well I had heard, but….I didn't know the visions were so….unpleasant."

"That's OK. We all have our own little curse to put up with." Using Angel as an anchor Cordelia pulled herself up to a standing position. "Angel," she addressed her employer. "It's Fred, she's being held somewhere…"

"Fred….where?" Wesley stood up.

"Somewhere dark and cave-like. Angel she's scared and….alone. You know that's the worse thing that can be done to her."

"Excuse me," Buffy interrupted. "Who's Fred. Is he another one of your team?"

"Fred is a she, Buffy," Wesley replied. "We rescued her from…"

"It's a long story which we'll tell another time." Angel interrupted.

"Well, it certainly seems that our nemesis has made the first move," said Giles eager to bring everyone back on line.

"I would agree," Wesley added. "Weaken us and present something else to occupy our attention. The next move is ours, of course. When and how?"

"Tomorrow."

Everyone turned to Buffy. "We're in no state to react so quick, Buffy," Giles stated. "It'll take us a while to recover from our injuries…"

"I'm fine and so is Faith. We're all that is needed and it is all about the two of us, after all."

"Buffy…." Angel started to protest.

"You have to find Fred and quick. Cordelia, Xander and Spike, and Wesley, if he is fit enough, can help you."

"What about me?" Willow asked.

"I….I was going to ask that you accompany Faith and me. We'll need some magic protection."

Willow's smile of gratitude made Buffy feel bad; the Wicca's desire to help, her need to be useful was humbling and disturbing in equal measure.

"I'll come with you as well," Spike declared.

Buffy was about to protest but decided not to. They both held eye contact for several seconds until Buffy nodded her assent.

"You don't have to do this, Buffy…you know that, don't you?" Giles said cryptically. "You can just walk away."

"Oh yes I do and no I can't," she responded smiling affectionately. "Of all things, I have to do this. Afterwards…who knows?"

**Chapter two**

We drown our doubts in dry champagne,

And soothe our souls with fine cocaine.

I don't know why I even care…

We get so high and get nowhere.

We'll have to change our jaded ways…

But I've loved these days.

(Billy Joel)

"As I said last night, you don't have to go through with this….or anything else," Giles said to Buffy. "You can just walk away. You deserve the privilege."

"I'm tempted, believe me. I know that if we succeed, no one will notice and the world will carry on regardless…..no fanfares or realisation that things have been made safer." She looked out of the window and onto the city she was attempting to preserve. "No one notices the bad or the defeat of the bad. It's very discouraging sometimes," she added with a smile.

"Most people, except children curiously enough, don't recognise the really blood-curdling things in life; things that tap on your bedroom window in the dead of night."

"Yea," Buffy said. "People today may think the world's going mad when in fact it's always been like that. They just don't get out much."

"Well, folks the sun's gone down. Are we ready?" Spike prompted eagerly. He was then enveloped in a large hug by Dawn. He stepped away embarrassed; the sensation adding startling colour to his otherwise pale features.

After various goodbyes and entreaties to take care, one half of the Hyperion's occupants exited its lobby and headed for the headquarters of Wolfram and Hart. Angel, Xander and Cordelia were left in the opposite direction, following Cordelia's vision. They would drop Wesley and Dawn off at the hospital to sit with Gunn.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"We could just run in all guns blazing," Faith suggested as the four of them stood looking up at the imposing building.

"No. I want as few innocents as possible harmed," Buffy responded.

Spike made a sarcastic remark. "Define innocent," he added.

"Are you ready, Willow? Strong enough, I mean," Buffy addressed her friend.

"Well, I've had a cooked breakfast with all the right food groups and I've…yes I'm ready."

Willow stood forward of Buffy, Faith and Spike and closed her eyes. After mouthing a piece of verse silently, she outstretched her arms. The others discerned a slight de colourisation to the concrete in front of Willow. It soon darkened and, after some seconds, the darkness tendrilled forward and made a definite move towards Wolfram and Hart's building. The companions watched mesmerised as the tendrils raced to the base of the structure and, like speeded up ivy growth, it proceeded to completely engulf concrete and glass. The screams followed soon after. Barely five minutes after she had commenced the spell people started to emerge from the interior screaming, frantic to escape whatever was inside.

"This would look great with a rock soundtrack," Spike observed.

"I could sing," Buffy offered.

"Shut up, both of you!" Willow admonished as she tried to keep her concentration on her task. "Faith, no!" She shouted suddenly as the brunette stepped forward, her feet making contact with the black.

Faith screamed in terror, her hands to her ears. Spike dragged her back behind Willow. She collapsed to the ground and curled herself into a ball. Willow finally turned round, satisfied that her spell was complete. She knelt down to Faith's level. The slayer had recovered enough to sit up, but was obviously still stunned.

"What was the spell?" She asked the Wicca.

"Fear."

"Fear of what?"

"I don't know; I can't read minds…yet," Willow smiled. "You tell me."

Faith stood up. "I'd rather not say but, right now, I suddenly have pity for the people who ran from the building and….a strong resolve never to upset you again."

"And they say there is always a payback in magic. I don't see it myself," Willow smiled again.

"Shall we go in now most of the civilians have been sent away?" Buffy suggested as she stepped forward. The dark tendrils had dissipated.

"Yea, why not," Spike added. "After all, there are only the demons left inside now."

Buffy held Willow's hands and faced her. "You stay here….no objections. You're weakened. I don't want to lose you in there."

Willow relented and watched the others walk up to the main entrance

"You know," Spike stated. "We'd all strike a more dramatic pose if you girls were a bit taller. I feel like I'm on a school trip with the St Trinians Upper 6th…..without the added benefit of the school uniforms to inspire."

"On that…disturbing note, shall we?" Buffy opened the door.

They were immediately confronted by a host of vampires. They blocked the way to the lifts and stairwell. From the rear a familiar face could be seen.

"Oooh yes, kill them, gouge their eyes, slit their throats, break their arms, cut them open," Druscilla clapped with glee.

Buffy looked to Spike, a pained expression on her face. "Once you get to know her, it becomes quite endearing," he smiled weakly.

The battle was brief and dusty. The first line of defences was sorely lacking. Druscilla was the last to remain standing, having kept to the rear to watch.

"The coach has turned into a pumpkin and the mice have all run away," she intoned.

"Now that wasn't even relevant," Buffy complained.

"You two go ahead," Spike instructed. "I'll deal with Dru."

"Are you sure….." Buffy asked concerned. "I know how much she means….."

"Meant. I assure you, there's very little love lost. You go ahead."

Buffy and Faith ran for the stairs and started their climb to the top floor where they felt sure to find their quarry.

"Hello, Dru," Spike said simply. "I always knew it would come to this."

"My poor Spike. All vulnerable again. Let mummy kiss you again and make you strong again."

"No thank you, darling. It's taken me a century to recover from your last fond embrace."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The top floor appeared to be one large room with an ornate wooden door at the far end. Buffy and Faith walked past desks and PCs, which formed a corridor to the door. Faith opened it inwards. Another room, empty of furniture, stood before them with another door open across from them. Thomas stood waiting for them.

"Hello, girls. Just the two of you?"

"It's all about us, isn't it?" Buffy countered.

"Quite. It's such a pity you wouldn't play the game."

Thomas swept his right arm from left to right and stepped back into the room behind him. The room in between started to shake. The slayers stood back on impulse and watched as the room before them stretched. It elongated, lengthening the gap between doors and widened until the interior was nearly half an acre in size.

"I hate other dimensions," Faith complained.

The situation was made even worse when demons of various shapes started to sprout from the carpet to confront the usurpers. They were more threatening and vicious looking than standard vampires and stood poised for action.

"Oh well," Buffy said simply. "I've got some new moves to practice anyway."

"These are pretty useless." Faith threw away her stake and produced two knives as replacement. Buffy was similarly armed. "It has been good to fight together again…..as allies, I mean," Faith offered.

"You're not going to hug me are you?"

"What and give Thomas the satisfaction of seeing two girls get friendly. I've never been a fan of us being…..that close."

"Yeah, it's the sort of thing Xander would enjoy." Buffy added with a smile.

Faith laughed at the prospect of the young man being struck dumb. "Any regrets?" She asked.

Buffy thought for a few seconds. "I could have been taller," she replied.

Buffy then ran forward towards the first rank of demons. At the last minute she jumped up and spun round with her arms outstretched, a dagger in each hand. The spinning motion created a circle of death around her as the blades sliced through scales skin and bone. Landing back on her feet she continued to cut and stab. Faith joined in.

In the arena between doors the two slayers caused bloody gashes to the bodies and faces of anything that came close. They soon found themselves fighting side by side until their twisting high kicks caused them to widen the gap again. Faith picked up a fallen blade, dropped by a fallen demon and threw it at another charging towards her. It entered its rib cage up to the hilt. Buffy picked up four-foot long spear from the floor and used it alternately as a staff and a stabbing tool.

Buffy used all the knowledge of previous slayers embedded in her mind, whilst Faith fought with the viciousness she had learnt from living on the streets and having to fend for herself in a world that had no time for her.

After what seemed forever but in fact was closer to an hour, the fight was over. With all the demons slain, the bodies disappeared and the room suddenly compressed back to its normal shape around the slayers, causing them to stagger with the earthquake intensity of the transformation. Buffy walked forward and opened the second door. Thomas sat behind his desk. He betrayed no sign of alarm.

"I knew you would make it," he said simply. "You are both impressive. Such a pity; we could have been all powerful."

"Is that why you decided to raise me and recruit Faith, to rule the world?"

"Not the world, just the Council. Through them and Wolfram and Hart we then could have….."

"Yea, etc. etc. etc. Couldn't you have just forged a ring or something? It's all the rage at the moment."

"Don't mock me!"

"I'm not mocking you. I should be grateful really. If not for you, I would be rotting in my grave. Whilst it was Willow that eventually raised me, she did it to prevent you from getting to me first. So, in a way, you are my….saviour. Well here I am, Thomas," Buffy laid open her arms in welcome. "Your slayer raised from the dead." She walked up to the desk and leant forward menacingly. "Do you know what a golem is?"

"Do your worse, bitch!" He spat, tiring of the game.

"I'm just a slayer. I'm afraid my imagination is not up to it, although I'm sure Faith could come up with something colourful. However, I know a friend who has plans for you."

"Hello, Quentin," Faith welcomed the Watcher as he joined them, with several of his colleagues.

"Ladies," he greeted.

"So you sold yourself back to the Council," Thomas laughed humourlessly.

"Actually, they were working with me."

Buffy turned round and walked away from the rebel watcher, casting him off without further comment. She stopped as she reached the Councilman. "Goodbye, Quentin," she said simply and she and Faith vacated the scene.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

They found Willow and Spike in the lobby. The vampire was slumped on the floor; his back leant against the reception desk. He had a strangely calm expression.

"I'm guessing you won," she said. "I'm sorry, Spike. I know you had a long history with Dru."

"That's OK," he replied weakly.

"Buffy….." Willow started to speak.

Buffy looked to her friend and saw concern written on her face. Willow looked down at Spike. Buffy followed her and knelt down to his level. "Are you OK?"

"I'm dying, Buffy," he responded almost triumphantly.

"Oh, Spike, don't be so melodramatic. You can't die…well except in the obvious way, that is."

"I have done terrible things, Buffy, since I was turned. Truth to tell, I was pretty bad before that….you've never read my poetry."

"You've been a vampire for over a century. None of us expect a glowing testimonial. But, you've proven yourself to us….to me." Buffy added.

"If I die by the…..obvious way, I'm still damned. I don't relish hell again….and besides, you're not the only one tired of life."

Buffy looked away briefly but returned her attention to her comrade. It was then she noticed the wound to his stomach; blood was seeping through the fingers of the hand he held over it.

"How?" Was all Buffy could muster.

"Nature exists as a balance," Spike quoted Quentin's warning. "A life for a life." Buffy looked sharply at Willow. "Don't blame her," he said to Buffy. "It was me that suggested the exchange."

"Why!" Buffy shouted. "I was happy where I was! You didn't have to….."

" Yes we did. You know you had to be raised before Thomas did it. Our way meant you were human. Thomas would have conjured a zombie to make his own. And…..I was never going to get redemption from the end of a stake." Buffy turned her head away from him. He lifted his free hand and pulled her attention back. "Buffy, I die a man, not a demon."

"There must have been another way!"

"If there was I would have chosen it, believe me," Spike said. "Someone once said that, by the time we reach thirty, we have had our most important memories. After that, the cup is full and new experiences run over the edge with little or no impact. We could be ecstatically happy; rich and fulfilled, but the experience would pale in comparison to our first love or our first kiss. But, Buffy I've loved these days! I don't have a death wish but, at the same time, I've wanted this."

They gave Spike a simple burial in the corner of a nearby cemetery. It was a happy occasion.

**Chapter Three**

Love, love is a verb

Love is a doing word

Feather's on my breath

Gentle compulsion

Shakes me makes me lighter

Feather's on my breath.

Teardrop on the fire

Feather's on my breath

Stumbling a little

Stumbling a little.

(Massive Attack ft. Laura Fraser)

Gunn was well enough to leave hospital after a few days. The time in between allowed the others to relax and reminisce and to get use to the news that Buffy and Angel were going to leave. The mantle of slayer would finally be passed to Faith. The Watcher's Council was satisfied that she had reformed enough to take on the responsibility. They had even used their influence to get her prison sentence revoked.

The latter disturbed Faith; whilst the killing of the mayor's assistant had been a genuine accident, she had murdered the professor after that. However, she was firmly advised that she was on probation, similar to Angel's need to atone for Angelus' crimes. Faith argued that Angel had nothing to atone for since Angelus was a different entity and, as such, was only acting its nature etc. It was clear to everyone that Faith would be a troubled soul, all be it with a wicked sense of humour and a questionable moral viewpoint.

Everyone knew it was coming, but the time and method of Buffy and Angel's departure still came as a surprise, even to the main players. A blinding white light announced the arrivals of the two Eternals. They stood on the intersection of the two staircases, at the rear of the Hyperion's lobby. The wall behind them was bathed in the light and the Oracles, dressed in robes only slightly less luminous, were framed against it. The whole group was gathered in the lobby. They were mute with surprise, but all guessed the reason for the visitation.

"I…I thought you were dead," Wesley uttered.

"Death is but a temporary state."

"Why are you here?" Angel asked unnecessarily.

"Reward," said one.

"Redemption," said the other.

"Release," they both intoned.

Angel looked over at Buffy and found she was already staring at him. They both turned to the ancient seers.

"We once offered you life," one levelled at Angel. "But you rejected the offer in order to serve. We no longer require your service."

"You have also served well," the other said to Buffy.

"We release you."

"We release you."

Angel then felt a surge of energy course his body. He went rigid with its intensity. The feeling was then replaced by something he had not felt for nearly two years; his heart beat. He felt the pulse in his wrists, the gentle throb in his neck and the subtle vibration beneath his rib cage. He turned to Buffy; life-affirming joy radiated from his eyes where for decades guilt and loneliness had been.

Dawn stood to one side of the others. She felt truly happy for her sister and the soulful vampire, but her emotions were tinged with a melancholia; she knew her own time to depart had arrived. She had been allowed to exist for a precious few weeks after Glory's defeat. Without her Buffy would not have been raised, and all the events from then to this moment. But now she truly had to depart.

The Oracles looked to her and Dawn nodded acceptance. She then felt her body tingle and saw herself begin to glow. The next moment she disappeared into a host of small lights that glittered like fireflies and dissipated just as quick. No one noticed. No one remembered.

Buffy turned to her friends. "We've had some fun, haven't we?"

"I wouldn't have missed a thing," Xander replied.

"Faith," she addressed her replacement. "Don't let the Council rule you."

"You're not going to die on us are you," the Slayer asked.

"Oh no. I'm going to live." Buffy walked up to Giles. She raised herself on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. She leant her head on his chest. "I would never have survived so long without your guidance."

"You died twice, Buffy," he reminded her.

"Death is only temporary," she smiled and stepped back from him to face Willow. "I love you," she whispered. She finally turned back to Angel and walked to his side.

"Are you OK?" He asked.

"I'm stumblin' a little, but otherwise….."

"Where do you want to go?"

"I know a perfect little town up north that has a vacant cabin."

The two lovers embraced and walked into the bright light. As they did so, they gradually faded as the light itself also faded. Eventually they were gone, never to be seen again.

In this silence…

I believe I have seen you

In this white wave

You are silent

You are breathing

In this white wave

I am free

(Delirium ft. Sara McLachlan)

**end.**


End file.
